First of Many
by MaidenOfTheWorld
Summary: A WonderBat series by trentran and I! Follow WonderBat in all of the 'firsts' of their relationship, from the point of view of their closest friends.
1. First Time Someone Noticed Their Love

Arthur's pace as he swam into the throne room of Atlantis was an infuriated one. He sped away from the disaster that was his supposed collaboration with the 'Justice League' he had unwittingly joined, utterly disappointed. His frown was so deep, so sunken on his face that it reflected his expectations of any further team-ups with his so-called friends in regards to Atlantean matters. It was most likely due to the fury on his face – the mere sight of his foul mood too obvious to ignore - that motivated Mera's use of her hydrokinesis upon his arrival.

He stomped his feet down onto the floor of the illustrious room just as the water washed over his body and exited the space. His domineering presence was felt by all, and typically, he'd try to ease himself when in the presence of the palace guards in order to avoid isolating himself from the culture he had been absent from for a great deal of his life. Thankfully, it was none other than Mera who commanded the room and delivered the order he wished to give, "Leave us."

Together, Arthur saw their aura as a terrifying entity to those who opposed them and their guards weren't so foolish to do so.

Armoured feet clamoured to vacate the throne room. Arthur stared down his greatest ally – his only one, it felt like – as he awaited for the noise to cease. Once he was certain they were alone, a heavy sigh filled his chest and spilled out while he made his way to the throne. "Today was such a disaster."

"Even with the help of your _League_?" Mera's mocking tone was thick enough to suffocate a person of land or sea. He knew all too well that she wasn't a fan of his home beyond the ocean, and in that moment, he couldn't be bothered to argue with her about her disfavour. Instead, he planted his trident in its stand and then moved his hands to scrub his face.

"It's because of them that I'm so…pissed!"

"What happened? Didn't they find the source of the radiation?"

Her eagerness to hear him fault the surface-dwellers only egged him on. Arthur whipped his head around and spoke to her as if he was giving a formal complaint at a Justice League meeting. "Oh, they did! Only when it almost blew up in all of our faces!"

Mera's eyes widened ever so slightly, her typically cool demeanour keeping her from emoting her shock further. Crossing her arms over her chest, she simply awaited a more detailed account of the mission he had just narrowly survived.

"They did," Arthur spoke again, calmer this time, hoping to provide a thin defence for the League before he continued to tear them apart. "But, if Bruce had kept his damn mouth shut, Wonder Woman, Superman and I could have avoided nearly dying in a nuclear explosion." He finished his response with a sardonic smile.

Before he could delve deeper, Mera held out a hand to ask him to pause. "Bruce is the one…who is called Batman." It was stated, but she was clearly asking for confirmation.

Arthur gave it to her by stepping down from the throne and referencing the hero in question.

"He's the one who was supposed to monitor the radiation from his damn plane over the water, while the three of us fought off Black Manta and his cowardly army." To think that such a wretched man had found his own minions to threaten Atlantis with boiled Arthur's blood. Cowards, they were, setting up something so vicious and deadly without any concern for the ocean Black Manta hoped to one day rule.

"Superman is more than capable of handling a bomb," Mera assumed, based on what information he had given her about his 'co-workers' over the past few months. Whether she was intentionally drawing him away from his rage or not, it worked and he awaited to hear where her train of thought was headed. "You two could have handled things on your own."

Arthur shook his head. "No, Wonder Woman was the one who came in contact with the bomb the most. _That_ was the problem."

"I don't follow." Was her understandable response to such an odd remark.

It was Arthur's turn to cross his arms, hoping to keep his negative emotions locked up inside his burning chest. "The lives of all Atlanteans were at risk, which is why I brought in the League. The plan was to help Superman make it to the bomb so he could take it into space. We're fighting off Black Manta's soldiers while Batman was locating the bomb, telling us how much time we had before it went off and released enough nuclear energy to decimate the entire city. He even gave them both these breathing masks so they could stay underwater for a long time." For some reason, he mimicked the shape of the mask with his own hand.

Mera arched her brow at him, clearly disinterested by the means of which the League were able to do assist their Aquaman. Arthur knew that all she wanted to know was whether or not they had saved Atlantis, and the details of the land-dweller technology was not something she visibly cared for.

He chose to turn his mask-mimicking hand into a fist at his side before carrying on. "There were a lot of Manta's men, so it was an unspoken agreement that whoever got to the bomb first would at least get it to the shore as fast as they could. _But_!"

"But?"

"Halfway through the battle, Wonder Woman had an opening to reach the bomb. Batman knew what she was planning and started fighting with her over our communication channel, trying to coerce her to help me, or Superman, and it was so damn distracting. She lost her chance, but then she got another one, and another one, and _every time_ she had a clear path to the bomb Batman would just scream at her and say" – in his best impression of the overtly serious man-bat did he say – "Don't you dare risk it! Leave it to Superman!"

Despite the continuation of his story, Mera's expression did not falter at all. There was a moment of silence, a beat passing between them, before she inquired, "Isn't Batman the one who hunted you down? Isn't he the one who's supposed to be running this League of yours?"

His knowledge of Mera made it so that he knew not to laugh at such a comment. "I'd say they both run it – him and Wonder Woman – since they're the ones who brought us all together."

He expected further analytics about how unintelligent Bruce was, or even for Mera to offer up a proper strategy of her own on how the battle should have gone. Instead, much to his surprise, her stance softened, her arms fell to her sides, and she uttered only a simple, "Oh."

Arthur's head reeled backwards in shock. "Oh?" He repeated her with his surprise twisted into his tone.

"Did Batman say _why_ he was unwilling to let Wonder Woman risk her life, after providing her with the gear she needed to participate in the mission?"

"Because we don't know if she could have handled the radiation if the bomb _had_ gone off."

"Meaning it didn't. Meaning you won. He was most likely being careful and considerate of his team's strengths and weaknesses to avoid a fatal loss."

Arthur didn't care for that mentality; as one who trusted the strength of those he fought with, that sort of hesitation was more problematic than sensible in his eyes. " _Maybe_ he was being _too_ -cautious and wasted more time than he should have!"

He expected Mera to acknowledge his point of view, to understand the basis for his exasperation and immediately doing what she did best in conversations such as these: lampoon those who were not of the sea. It was the reaction that was most in tune with the personality of the proud Atlantean before him.

However, much to his disappointment, she spontaneously chose to act as a devil's advocate and suggest, "Or perhaps there's more to Batman's side of the story."

" _More_!?" Arthur's bottled animosity nearly sent him soaring through the roof of the palace, as if the throne room _was_ still filled with water. Nothing in his mind could possibly justify the risk Bruce had taken with his 'cautious' and 'considerate' behaviour!

 _Nothing_!

Calmly, much more so than she'd ever spoken to him before, Mera suggested something so profound, it made Arthur's head spin. "Perhaps while you were sacred of losing our people, Batman was scared that he'd lose her." Then, her eyes became slightly hooded, implicating yet warm. There was some kind of understanding behind her pale green eyes that wouldn't reach him, as he couldn't imagine how Bruce could compare losing Diana, to him losing all of the people of Atlantis, his long-awaited home, his true family, the people that he had come to love—

Now, it was his turn to utter a very unintelligible, "Oh."

His recognition of her hidden meaning was rewarded by a rare Mera smile. Sardonic in its own way, there was a hint of something genuine witnessed only by someone who had come to know her as well as he had. She began to approach him, graceful step after graceful step, much too pleased with herself as she teased him. "They're your people too, this Justice League – if you hadn't yet noticed, I could be wrong."

"No," he answered quickly, despite how weary he now felt. "Hearing you say it like that, it suddenly makes sense… Still doesn't make all that chaos okay, though."

Arthur was surprised even more by the way Mera kindly accepted his stubbornness. While she sauntered in his direction, he realized that she wasn't walking towards him, but rather, she was exiting the throne room through one of the archways behind him. In passing him, she concluded their conversation with her final thoughts on the matter. "It doesn't, but the mission was successful, and now you can at least understand your teammate a little better."

Arthur turned to watch her leave as she spoke so high and mighty, acting as if she had solved some mystery that had been beyond the comprehension of even the heir to the throne of Atlantis. His eyes trailed over her all-knowing form until she was completely out of sight. Then, in the room vacated of both water and company, after having a bombshell of information dropped on him, Arthur smirked to himself as he had a concluding thought of his own.

 _Yeah_ , he realized, _maybe I do._

(( _After that Batman 39 issue, I wanted to collab with fellow WonderBat fans and give us something to love about our favourite DC ship. So, trentan and I came up with a series of WonderBat's firsts! This chapter is about the first time someone noticed they were in love. Really, it's about the last person in respect to the JLU, but I didn't specify which universe this story takes place in so that any fan can enjoy. Hope you like it, and hope you look forward to part 2! ~ Maiden))_


	2. First Time Someone Saw Them on a Date

The human portion of Victor's face began to sweat profusely, the glow of his holographic screen highlighting the fear in his eye. "Recognize: Batman – 01. Come in, Batman!" He yelled into his communicator – designed by his own technologically-advanced mind – for the umpteenth time. He had only intended to test the connectivity of the League's ear pieces to guarantee that his latest update didn't upset the response times and that everything would be working smoothly should they be called into action. It made complete sense to run through their superhero team in order of their clearance numbers on the official registry and of course Batman was stationed at the very top.

Knowing how much heroism and perfection meant to the dark knight, it was quite jarring that he was not answering Cyborg's call.

Concern was driving Victor mad. He felt oddly hopeless while sitting on the floor in his room. He hadn't been a hero for very long, and though the responsibilities seemed similar to his days as a quarterback on the Gotham U's football team, a missing Justice League member was much more terrifying than someone simply not showing up to practice. It seemed as though the only appropriate decision then was to skip down to the next name on the list and warn another League member of his uncertainty. Victor dialed in and unintentionally shouted, "Recognize: Wonder Woman – 02! Wonder Woman, are you there?" There was no static, no echoing of his own voice to indicate any sort of fracture in the line. So clear was the call, that he would have noticed if Diana had even tapped her ear piece for only a second.

But there was no answer.

While Batman fought crime in Gotham at night, Wonder Woman was much more free to transform into her hero persona whenever she so needed; whether or not Diana was required somewhere as Wonder Woman, Victor couldn't possibly know. Her inactive status on the League's communications line was potentially just as concerning, despite her immortality. After all, what excuse could she have to avoid his check-in? He tried one more time to contact her, "Recognize: Wonder Woman – 02. If you're there, please pick up!" When he failed to reach her, his patience blew like an overheated fuse.

"Okay," he mumbled to himself as stretched his hands farther apart and expanded the immaterial screen before him. "It's time for a more intrusive approach." It wasn't Victor's style to tap into security cameras or scan the world to locate a person without a vital need to so. Admittedly, the rational part of his mind urged him to refrain from doing something so rash.

He was only human though, and his cybernetic powers were just too tempting to utilize in moments such as these.

His brain pulsed and warmed within his skull as he began to reach out to the wifi router attached the apartment building. All he needed was a connection of greater reach and Cyborg could have access to any security camera in the city, let alone the world. The tricky part was learning how to fuse his human memories with the footage he was seeing in order to create a self-aware facial recognition program that would locate either of his teammates. Images of restaurants and street corners and move theatre staff rooms passed by his mind's eye in an overwhelming whirl, scenes of chaotic clubs and twenty-four hour convenience stores and—

"— _could use a night out like this more often._ " A familiar voice caught Victor's attention in the same moment that his human eye flew open, the recognition feeling like a cold splash of water awakening him from some deep, dark dream. Diana was located faster than he had anticipated, but her location was none too shocking: Naples, Italy. If he recalled correctly, she lived in Europe. He could have sworn she said Paris, but whether or not he was having trouble remembering, Italy wasn't too far away from France for the believability to be too much of a stretch.

On a moonlit street in the cliff-side city, Diana was found to be waltzing out of a rustic-looking restaurant, with red crackled bricks and decorative vines along the walls. The awning provided unnecessary shade as she exited onto the sidewalk and it was easy to presume that she was awaiting her car as she stood close to the valet parking booth on the sidewalk out front. The lense Victor was looking through was fastened up high and off to the right of the doorway, with the only light reaching her body was the warm glow from inside the building. It couldn't highlight her face enough to provide him with a perfect resolution but it definitely managed to catch the dazzling sparkles that adorned her elegant dress.

The thin straps that adorned her shoulders waved their way into a delicate but transparent floral design over her chest. She was a naturally tall woman, and the thin yet lengthy cut of the skirt highlighted how much of her height was in her legs. She wore no jewelry, did nothing else to dress up for the evening, as her gown was all she needed—

Oh, she was on a date.

Victor childishly grinned to himself in the quiet, empty space of his room at the sight of Wonder Woman living a normal (yet ritzy) life; she was out on the town with a man, enjoying every second she had to herself, having found a way to balance both her heroism and her personal life—

" _If we_ did _do this more often, we might be tempted to retire and live like this every night._ " Cyborg froze as if the emotion of surprise compelled his circuits to freeze. That voice, growing louder as a mysterious man moved out from underneath the restaurant's awning, was too familiar to miss for a resident Gothamite!

It was none other than the Batman himself, in cognito as his everyday self.

He was seeing it with his own eyes – one human and one with a built in facial scanner! – and still, he was in disbelief.

" _You and I have very different ideas on what it means to date somebody._ "

But if they were together, then didn't that mean—

" _Really?_ "

–it was possible—

" _For one, you can see someone outside of work more than once a week without promising to grow old together_."

–it was possible—

" _Oh so we won't be taking the Victorian approach to dating?_ "

–that it was indeed his technology that was the problem in this situation?

As Diana laughed in a way that he never thought possible with Bruce, Victor was shocked, to think that he had been the reason that the calls had failed. Perhaps he hadn't properly considered the transmission boost needed to reach each member overseas. After all, if they were in a casual situation such as a night out together, it was impossible to believe that either one of them would ignore a summons on the Justice League's communicators.

He left the channel open so he could observe them the moment the connection would strengthen. The map and the footage sat clearly over his lap while he attempted to create a holographic model of the ear pieces to examine each component in real time. First, the most obvious place to begin was with the audio filter inside the ear pieces to recognize if there was any blockage or if the mismatched parts he had assembled were incompatible with one another.

As he panicked to get the technology he designed up and running, Diana lowered her voice as she stepped close to her date. Naturally, Cyborg's mind forced the security camera outside the restaurant to fixate and zero in on the couple in order to catch every single action. Without any hesitation, she leaned and whispered into his ear, " _Given the things you said to me at dinner, I think it's much too late for that_."

If Victor still had the entire expanse of his human head, he'd most likely have reddened ears to have overheard something as private as that.

But his focus was the audio filter and while the night turned saucy in Italy, Victor ran the analytics once more and found that the audio filters should have been fully operational, the schematics before him flashing a one hundred percent compatibility between the parts like a neon sign.

It was time to move onto the Bluetooth enabler. There was no doubt that the Cyborg's internal mechanisms could interface with the tech he created, so he chose to take a different approach in reaching the communicators during his test. He shamelessly hacked into the BatCave's computer and booted up the installation program that was meant to act as a backup base for the connections in case of an emergency.

While imagining Bruce's sour reaction, the man himself was much too sweet with his date, the footage revealing how he wrapped his arms around her and brought her close to him. " _They weren't just things I said, Diana._ "

" _Oh?_ " She hummed.

"Oh God, no." Victor cursed. He needed to pinpoint the problem before he heard anything else! He forced the transmitter to play the test audio used in the beta stage of development in the hopes of using the original, functional sound to provide him with the insight he needed!

Lo and behold, the test was not permitted by either ear piece to begin.

It felt like a break through to have found the root cause of his problem, the one that had been plaguing him the entire evening! If it was indeed the Bluetooth that was problematic—

" _You should know by now that when I speak to you, I mean every word_."

—then did he only need to replace the pieces?

" _I know you do. If you can confess your love to me, you can keep all of those promises you made during dinner tonight_."

If that was the case, then the blame was on Bruce! He had provided the technology, and presumably had been using it for years. If the Bluetooth reception was down, it was on none other than the Batman who was to blame for the faulty connection. As frustrating as it was that there would be no solution tonight, it was absolutely gratifying to know that he himself had not been the cause of the mistake.

With a proud smile did he watch the security footage just as their car rolled up next to the restaurant, the high beams blaringly bright as the streets of Naples were nearly cloaked by the night. Diana swung her head to look at the car, but had recoiled and returned her gaze to Bruce when she realized how blinding the Mercedes was.

And that was when Victor felt the phantom feeling of his heart falling into the pit of his stomach: when she tossed her head around like that, he immediately noticed how Diana was not wearing her Justice League communicator. At all. Most likely, neither was Bruce.

As he blankly stared at the live recording of the Batman helping Wonder Woman into the passenger seat, the anticlimactic realization felt sickening to know he had spent the whole night panicking over his broken creation only to discover that the ear pieces were most likely at each of their respective homes the entire time.

Diana stopped herself from slipping into the car suddenly and the break in motion caught Victor's attention. She once again leaned into Bruce in order to whisper something private to him. " _But I'll save the promise I made for another night , in another car—_ "

And with that, he terminated the connection to the security camera in Naples. His bedroom, which had been filled with the orange light of his holograms since the sun had set on Gotham that evening, was now pitch black, cold and lifeless like his defeated being felt it should be.

It was only after a few moments of rebooting his perspective did Victor mutter to himself, "I'm adding tracking devices to those things." An unfortunate overlook that would have saved his entire evening.  
And perhaps, kept him from hearing Bruce Wayne seducing Diana.

(( _Ta da~ This 'first' this time is a tie between their first date and the first time Victor noticed they were in love! This takes place after Arthur and Mera's discussion of course, but the timeline is up to the imagination of the reader. Also, the security clearance list that Victor was referring to was written to sound like the list from Young Justice, but I modified it so that Bruce and Diana are higher than Clark, since that makes more sense given the DCEU's format. Hope you all enjoyed and please look forward to the next in this lovely series I am writing with trentran !_ ~ Maiden))


	3. First Holiday They Showed Their Love

J'onn was already comfortable in his handmade sweater from Mrs. Kent when he heard a knock at the door. Clark perked up in an evidently boyish way as Lois took one last sip of her festive eggnog and offered to greet their guests. "I'm glad they could make it." Admitted Superman, sounding as though their new guests warmed his heart more so than the fire that crackled in the hearth next to him. For the first time in all the years he had spent the holiday at the Kent's home in Smallville, the celebration was going to be extended beyond the immediate family and the one alien from Mars and it seemed as though the merriment would increase tenfold.

Although, one could consider Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince as family regardless of blood. Clark definitely did, as evident in the way he raced across the living room the moment he spotted his fellow Justice League founders and embraced the unsuspecting Batman with a bear hug only the Superman could give. Diana smiled behind them and wished them all well, "Merry Christmas, everyone."

"Oh my, Wonder Woman!" Mrs. Kent gasped with awe. From her seat in her favourite armchair, the one positioned right beside the gift-bearing tree, she arose onto weary feet while wearing a similar expression to that of her son's.

Stepping around her friends in their one-sided embrace, Diana raced over to drop of the bag of gifts she had carried in before bending down to Mrs. Kent and offering her a hug as well. "Thank you for having us, Mrs. Kent. Please, call me Diana. Clark was telling us all week about the fantastic party you throw at your home for Christmas every year and he made it sound too good to miss."

"That was the goal." admitted Superman to his evil plan.

Bruce, still trapped in his arms, looked to be absolutely displeased with the affection and the manipulation. He forced himself out of the arms of the Man of Steel and decided to also move onto their true host as well. "A very transparent goal, but we are happy to be here. Thank you." And from inside his jacket sprang a red wine bottle that had the mark of Wayne Enterprises on it. There was gold lines along the cap as well as the label, implying that he got their host the best money could buy.

As Bruce presented the gift, Diana made her way over to J'onn and kissed him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, J'onn."

His cheeks became rosy, but he returned the gesture all the same. "Merry Christmas, Diana. I am so happy you could join us this year."

"No chauffeur tonight, Bruce?" Lois inquired as she reappeared from the kitchen with a tray of Christmas cookies and decorative cups.

Bruce handed off his jacket to Clark as he stared down the reporter, his facade slipping into something more guarded but prepared. "Dick and Tim wanted to spend the evening at one of those parks where they set up a huge lightshow for Christmas."

That explanation won Lois over immediately, as she had nagged Clark into lighting up his mother's entire home earlier that day in order to make it feel completely and irrefutably festive. "Oh, are they going to the one in Metropolis? Lex spent good money on one to help with his nomination for president, meaning it's clearly corrupt, but I hear there are fireworks."

"I don't know. I think he'll stay local with them, for Santa."  
"Right, for Santa." Lois winked as she placed the tray down on the coffee table.

As the rest of the guests made pleasant conversation, J'onn couldn't help but to eye the glittering Christmas tree and admire the symbol of the entire holiday season.

He also couldn't help but to take notice of the arrangement of presents that sat beneath it.

Though he wasn't necessarily a material man, J'onn had learned a few years ago that it was customary to present gifts to loved ones during Christmas time. The notion had been rather confusing for him at first, until he understood how much thought and care went into the purchasing of each gift for each person on one's own Christmas list. Martha Kent always knit him a new sweater and he truly appreciated it every single year; his curiosity always seemed to rear its ugly head when he began to wonder what sorts of gifts the other people in attendance had bought just for him.

He was even curiouser when it came to what Bruce and Diana had brought, although it wasn't necessarily due to what they brought for him.

A heartful laugh drew his attention away from his own mind. "Well, J'onn is eyeing the Christmas presents, so you know what time it is." teased Mrs. Kent.

"Please," J'onn said quickly, shyly. "Don't feel as though you have to rush the celebration because of me."

"Naw, don't worry about it, J'onn. I don't think I can wait another moment to open presents either." Clark admitted as he made his way to the tree, ready to act as Santa's little helper to hand out the gifts. Santa, of course, being Mrs. Kent.

Everyone began to gather around the tree. Bruce chose to stand, as Diana took a seat on the couch next to J'onn. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail for the occasion, but it only showcased her face to him more clearly and the uncontrollable excitement in her eyes twinkled like the lights on the Christmas tree. The martian would never read any of his friends' minds without permission, so he was left with the desire to know just what it was she had brought that made her quite obviously restless.

"Okay," said Elf Clark as he glanced over the presents at his feet. "Let's see."

"I'll just do this now, before we start," Bruce interrupted the celebration as he once again reached into his coat. This time, he pulled out five envelopes and handed them out to the guests. All except Diana, that is. "I hope you all buy yourselves something you've always wanted."

No matter the sincerity behind his words, it was clear that he was flustered to have the whole room's attention focused on his thoughtless gift.

"Thanks, Mr. Wayne," Lois tapped the envelope in one hand as she smirked at the billionaire. That is, until a thought struck her and she looked down at her gift with renewed appreciation. "I can probably afford a new ergonomic desk chair now."

"Just wait before you start running through retailers in your head, Lo'," Clark asked politely as he chuckled at his girlfriend's quick thinking. "Let's focus on these gifts here first."

Lois smiled sheepishly and reached for one of the Christmas cookies she brought in to keep her quiet.

Mrs. Kent fixed her glasses as she read over the label of gift her son held up for her. "This one is for… Bruce, from Diana."

"Oh?" Bruce sounded shocked, but his face showed that he was more so startled by the fact that she had brought a gift for him. J'onn eyed Diana then, as she smiled knowingly at the Batman, who scowled back at her. Still, he took the catalog envelope that was given to him and untied the red string in order to open it. He pulled out something that looked to be thicker than paper - almost like a plaque of some kind - and red the words inscribed upon it at a speed similar to The Flash.

Then, he scowled. But it was so blatantly trying to cover up the emotions on his face due to how poor of a job it was doing.

With the silence seemingly stretching on forever, Mrs. Kent chimed in and politely questioned, "May we know what it says?"

"I work a government job when I am not with the Justice League," Diana explained to their hostess before acknowledging the rest of the room. "Agent Faraday and I have been trying to create ways to keep children out of risk from being in the streets when villains attack cities like Metropolis and Gotham. So we proposed the idea of making recreation centers in some of the more underprivileged parts of these places and were told yesterday that the first location will begin breaking ground in Gotham City in the new year.

"But I formally requested that one of the wings of the Gotham location be named after Bruce's mother, Martha Wayne, since she was passionate about protecting the children too." Near the end of her explanation, Diana grew emotional, yet she smiled throughout her entire speech.

"Wow." Lois gawked.

"Di'..." Clark whispered, clearly touched.

Marth and J'onn remained silent, with the martian in particular focused on Bruce Wayne himself. It was as if he was suddenly incapable of lifting his head, unwilling to show the room how her gift truly made him feel. He did, however, clear his throat and utter a few genuine words of gratitude. "This is...more than I expected. Thank you, Diana."

Needing nothing more from him, forever understanding of who Bruce was and how he functioned, Diana leaned back in her seat on the couch and cooed, "You're very welcome."

The shadowed look in Bruce's eyes as he suddenly lifted his head then was knowing, intentful. He focused on Diana and tried to imprint his feelings onto her through his stare, in the hopes of keeping his words silent and avoid letting the room hear any potential break in his voice as he communicated what her gift meant to him. For her to have known a detail about his mother that was only shared in the greatest confidence and to apply it to her gift was surely going to leave an intimate impression upon them…

Smiling, J'onn tapped into the mental channels he kept with the friends who were not with them - Barry, Shayera, Arthur, John, then he added in Clark to the mix in order to make sure that everyone was included. ' _Well_ ,' he mused, ' _I think it's safe to say that Shayera has won the wager. If Bruce and Diana aren't together by now, they are doing a poor job at convincing me otherwise_.'

' _No way! They're together right now, right now!?_ ' Barry shrieked.

' _I'll be accepting everyone's money when John and I get back to the Watchtower_.' Was Shayera's cheeky reply to her victory announcement.

Clark chuckled despite the silence in the room, drawing everyone's focus onto him. "Uh, let's carry on with the gifts now, shall we!?" He proclaimed unnaturally loudly in an attempt to cover up the fact that he was apart of a telepathic conversation.

' _I noticed this first - this wager is ridiculous!_ ' Aquaman raged on his end of the channel.

' _Oh, hush. Shayera won, fair and square. At least you don't have to listen to her gloat for the rest of_ your _holiday_.' The willful, never prideful Green Lantern pointed out.

J'onn merely smiled as he listened to the heated discussion inside his mind, all while watching Bruce cross the room to sit on the armrest next to Diana. They cozied up next to one another naturally, and it only cemented the belief that they were indeed finally accepting their love of one another.

In all honesty, that was the greatest gift J'onn could have received that holiday season - knowing that Wonder Woman and Batman were finally allowing themselves to discover a future together.


End file.
